Impressed

Impressed

Bible: 1 Peter 5:1-9

Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another (V.5).

One Sunday morning a guest speaker gave the Bible talk at my church. It seemed like he wanted us to be impressed by everything he’d done. He listed all the places he’d been, the famous Christian leaders he knew and the huge numbers of people he’s spoken to.

Maybe you’ve heard church leaders say things like: “Numbers are not important to our church, but in the last couple of years we have grown 10% and increased our giving by 30%.” As soon as they say they’re not interested in numbers, they start throwing them around! It can be a way of boasting.

I can’t be too critical, though. I’ve struggled with pride in my own life. I was standing by the resources table at one church when someone picked up a copy of Our Daily Bread. “Do you read that?” I asked. “I start every day with it,” they said. “Well, I write for it,” I heard myself say. Pride—ugh! As followers of Jesus, we should be known for humility. We’re told to “be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble’ ” (1 PET. 5:5 NKJV). We shouldn’t worry about how much we have done, but focus on looking out for others and sharing Jesus’ love with them.

To pray about . . .

Jesus, please help us to guard against pride, and teach us to be humble.

WHEN WE WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHAT WE’VE DONE, WE NEED TO FOCUS OUR EYES BACK ON JESUS.

Youth Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries